Gran Turismo 5 Review (PS3)

It was always going to be impossible for Gran Turismo 5 to live up to the expectations of grandeur placed upon it: Perfectly modelled cars, true-to-life racing physics, visible damage and car degradation, online, an engaging career mode, day/night cycles, weather… these are just some of the features talked about before the game was out. Polyphony Digital, meanwhile, quietly ignored the raging storm of internet debate and comparisons and went about creating their own vision. And it is a thing of wonder.

Some stuff is odd, some parts are a little under-baked, some bits are frustrating. But the core components of the game – the driving, the courses and the cars – are breathtaking at times, each in their own way. After 25 hours of play, I feel I’m just scratching the surface of the content of this game ‒ it’s truly immense! I fully intend to put a lot more hours in, and I’ll consider revisiting this review once I’ve done that because at this stage it’s very hard to really say much more than I’m loving it as much as I hoped to!